WMU seeks $12 million in state funds

Oct. 8, 1999

KALAMAZOO -- Western Michigan University is seeking $12 million
in state funds to boost its engineering programs, enhance regional
collaboration, improve technology and provide more financial aid
to undergraduate and graduate students.

The requests, approved Oct. 7 by the WMU Board of Trustees,
now go to the state Department of Management and Budget and eventually
to the State Legislature for possible action during the state's
2000-01 fiscal year. Trustees also approved a similar list of
requests for capital outlay projects that will go to the state.

WMU's fast-growing College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
and a proposed research center for the college have been identified
as the top two priorities for the additional funds that might
be available from the state.

The first priority, for $2 million, would bolster engineering
programs as WMU moves ahead with plans to construct a new building
for the college as part of a business, technology and research
park in Kalamazoo. The new park and engineering campus will be
located on WMU's Lee Baker Farm at Parkview Avenue and Drake Road.

The second priority, for $1 million, includes support for the
college's proposed Manufacturing Engineering Research Center in
Battle Creek as well as for a joint-degree program in Benton Harbor-St.
Joseph. Both projects support WMU's commitment to regional collaboration.

They join three other priorities as part of this year's program-revision
requests to the state. The other three and the amounts sought
are for each are: instructional technology, $1 million; information
technology, $4 million; and student financial aid and graduate
student support, $4 million.

"Michigan is facing a critical shortage of highly skilled
engineers," said Robert M. Beam, vice president for business
and finance, in presenting the requests to the board. "Responding
to the state's needs, student interest and our mission, WMU's
engineering program costs are expected to double in the next five
years."

The Manufacturing Engineering Research Center will be operated
by WMU with academic offerings from WMU and Kellogg Community
College and private-sector research support. In Benton Harbor-St.
Joseph, WMU will participate in a joint venture with Lake Michigan
College to offer four-year degrees there.

Funds for instructional technology would help WMU equip 25
classrooms per year for the first three years of a project to
increase the use of video and other technology for instruction.
Because of the high cost, at $35,000 to $40,000 per room, WMU
has been able to upgrade only 11 classrooms as part of a technology
upgrade project begun four years ago. The project includes several
large lecture halls.

WMU's information technology request is for $3.25 million to
replace and upgrade its student records system to offer students
on-line registration as well as automated degree audits, automatic
transfer credit evaluations and other time-saving services. Another
$750,000 would support major upgrades in WMU's computer network
equipment.

"WMU was the first public university in Michigan to offer
telephone registration," Beam said. "We continue to
develop our World Wide Web-based capabilities, but we are severely
limited in our ability to move forward because of the age of existing
equipment and systems."

The $4 million in funds for financial aid would help WMU maintain
its tradition of enabling low- and middle- income families to
afford higher education. The funds would help undergraduates reduce
their level of debt and enable WMU to offer graduate assistants
more assistantships.

"Nearly half of our undergraduate students are from families
whose incomes are under $40,000 a year," Beam told trustees.
"Our goal with these families as well as graduate students,
more than half of whose incomes are below $15,000 a year, is to
assist needy students with the costs of obtaining their education."